Opening Kennels/animal grooming parlour - north cork

Hi all,

one of our school going children has decided she wants a career in animal welfare. We`re delighted with this... as I adore animals myself.

She`s thinking along the lines of opening kennells all year round and to entice customers, she`ll give free grooming when the anmials come to board. She`s even thinking about offering free pick up and drop off.

What do ye think....? Is there a market for it in north cork area? There is only 1 place that do kennelling near to Mallow as far as im aware.

How would she go about planning, does she need planning etc? The cheeky pup wants to do this out our back garden. We`re on half an acre.

Ah sher I suppose we`ll let her do it... might charge her ground rent


Just to add - she`s adamant she wants to earn her own money and not work for someone

Her first step should be to do some market research and draw up a business plan to see if this is a runner at all.

Shes only 16 but I`m amazed at her will to do business.. drawing up a business plan will probably be a bit beyond her TBH

Where and who could we talk to about setting the wheels in motion. I`m 100% behind her on this and would encourage her to continue...

Should she not finish school first?

Or she could do this as a sideline project - if possible as part of one of her courses (e.g. business studies?) or as an extra curricular activity. Learning about doing market research and business plans is not beyond many 16 year olds and it's a prudent precursor to just lurching into a business with no plans.

Your local city/county enterprise board may be able to help/advise.

shootingstar said:

Shes only 16 but I`m amazed at her will to do business.. drawing up a business plan will probably be a bit beyond her TBH

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Not necessarily. She shouldn't have much trouble estimating some running costs for example, and could easily investigate the likes of insurance etc. You should encourage her to make an attempt anyway IMO.

Try the local animal charities, SPCA, etc and see if there are many groomers around.

ClubMan said:

Should she not finish school first?

Or she could do this as a sideline project - if possible as part of one of her courses (e.g. business studies?) or as an extra curricular activity. Learning about doing market research and business plans is not beyond many 16 year olds and it's a prudent precursor to just lurching into a business with no plans.

Your local city/county enterprise board may be able to help/advise.

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of course she`ll be finishing school first. She`s 5th year but shes already planning ahead. Shes currently searching for grooming classes

Caveat said:

Not necessarily. She shouldn't have much trouble estimating some running costs for example, and could easily investigate the likes of insurance etc. You should encourage her to make an attempt anyway IMO.

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If you read my 2nd post you see i added i do encourage her... we`re constantly chatting about it and throwing ideas around. Shes gas really, shes on about pink uniforms, pink tags etc... she wont be long changing from pink to black when she sees how dirty it may get

i`ll show here this thread when I get home. My friend in Dublin is currently designing a dummy website for her as a surprise.

Don't know anything about the Cork area, but I recently tried to book a mobile dog wash/grooming service for my elderly dog and there was a 2-week waiting list!! Cost €50 for an hours work (Meath area). Good luck to your daughter!

Rois said:

Don't know anything about the Cork area, but I recently tried to book a mobile dog wash/grooming service for my elderly dog and there was a 2-week waiting list!! Cost €50 for an hours work (Meath area). Good luck to your daughter!

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excellent thats what i like to hear..... (even though your poor animal had to wait )

if you bring your dog to cork next year we`ll groom for 30.00

shootingstar said:

If you read my 2nd post you see i added i do encourage her...

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I know, I meant encourage her to try and do up some sort of business plan BTW.

Caveat said:

I know, I meant encourage her to try and do up some sort of business plan BTW.

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I kinda wasn`t too sure what you meant...

Anyway as mentioned earlier, i`ll show her this and maybe get her to list all the things she`ll need to purchase and she could browse the net for same.

If she is doing business studies at school, she should be able to do a business plan. It's part of the course for junior cert. Most banks have a template on their websites. Some of the newer pet shops have grooming parlours attached. It might be an idea for her to see if she could get a summer/ Saturday job in one. It would get her a feel for the job and some of the least glamourous sides (i.e. cleaning anal glands) of dog grooming. It is great that you are encouraging her but it would be good for her to at least try to work out the figures. I would imagine insurance etc could be expensive.

shootingstar said:

My friend in Dublin is currently designing a dummy website for her as a surprise.

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This is putting the cart before the horse in my opinion. A website is pointless without some initial market research and business planning.

Rois said:

Don't know anything about the Cork area, but I recently tried to book a mobile dog wash/grooming service for my elderly dog and there was a 2-week waiting list!! Cost €50 for an hours work (Meath area). Good luck to your daughter!

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shootingstar said:

excellent thats what i like to hear

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A business plan needs to be based on more than anecdotal evidence of market demand like this.

I think she would definitely need planning permission but I'm glad I dont live near you. Have you heard the racket these dogs make? Make sure she finds a place well away from near neighbours.

Faire play to her.
Living in the city i have a friend who travels to Macroom for her doggie hotel when she is off on holidays as it is like her child.
I would suggest though along with a business plan that she look at the impacts of her business - noise, waste management, H&S (dog bites), insurance, being her own boss and having her own life wtc!

Its very commendable on the one hand we have the moaners that our education is too broad, kids have no direction etc so i am delighted to hear that there are a few true "Bill Cullen's" left out there.

ClubMan said:

This is putting the cart before the horse in my opinion. A website is pointless without some initial market research and business planning.

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I`l disagree with you a little here as I felt she should see her own website. it`ll encourage her more when she sees that this could actually happen for her. Albeit I dont know the ins and outs of website design, it wont be "live" as such on the internet for everyone to see just yet. Just for her to view and play around with. get ideas etc. Tiz all positive.....

Swallows said:

I think she would definitely need planning permission but I'm glad I dont live near you. Have you heard the racket these dogs make? Make sure she finds a place well away from near neighbours.

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Yes, admittedily i`ll have to think about moving out we dont have neighbours right next door but they are up along the road. The local school might cause a bit of a stir over it. we`ll see... hopefully not.

pennypitstop said:

Faire play to her.
Living in the city i have a friend who travels to Macroom for her doggie hotel when she is off on holidays as it is like her child.
I would suggest though along with a business plan that she look at the impacts of her business - noise, waste management, H&S (dog bites), insurance, being her own boss and having her own life wtc!

Its very commendable on the one hand we have the moaners that our education is too broad, kids have no direction etc so i am delighted to hear that there are a few true "Bill Cullen's" left out there.

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She`s definite about not wanting to work for other people. I think that may have alot to do with me coming home and moaning about lining the bosses pockets.


She`s fully aware of whats involved in the job. shes been working part-time with a pet store for the past 4 months and they have a grooming service. She loves it...

ClubMan said:

A business plan needs to be based on more than anecdotal evidence of market demand like this.

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Is this not market research ? Calling it 'anecdotal' dismisses it as untrustworthy imo, and does a disservice to those who are offering information to the girl.

By the way, shooting star, we pay €35 for our 25kg collie x to be groomed. It normally takes 2 hours before he's ready. The woman has her detached garage converted to use as the 'parlour'.

Kennels are about €8-12 per day, but are generally horrible converted cattle sheds and are big cold grey and steel places. If any more comfortable type of place existed near to us, we'd definitely give them our business.

Pique318 said:

By the way, shooting star, we pay €35 for our 25kg collie x to be groomed. It normally takes 2 hours before he's ready. The woman has her detached garage converted to use as the 'parlour'.

Kennels are about €8-12 per day, but are generally horrible converted cattle sheds and are big cold grey and steel places. If any more comfortable type of place existed near to us, we'd definitely give them our business.

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We pay 40.00 per dog to be groomed and we use a girl in midleton whos little shed is converted. Great set up, looks well and she very professional.

I agree with you about the "coldness" of some kennells. I`m a complete animal lover and would definitely ensure my daughter does this right and has the animals welfare at her heart. She`s as bad as i am for loving animals.

Shooting Star - this is a great idea. Congratulations to your daughter for having a level of maturity to want to start her own business and to do something that she loves. There are not many children out there at her age who even have such ideas. As for problems she may encounter remember there are no problems only solutions!

I think that she should canvass vets/pet shops (anywhere that will let her and where she should expect a good response) for maybe a 50 mile radius to your home. Leave questionaires and a box for them to be collected in. Do this for about a month and it should give some idea of what is needed for the area. Think very carefully about the questions to ask make sure that they are not closed ended questions, and make sure that it doesnt look like a school project. If your friend is very kindly setting up a website for her maybe set up an email / on-line questionnaire.

Maybe approach a transition year student who might help her with a business plan, her buisness teacher or I'm sure if you got a commercial application form from some of the banks they might point you in the right direction.

I say "go girl" it is very hard to find good kennels at the best of time but to find one that will groom also would be fantastic.

shootingstar said:

excellent thats what i like to hear..... (even though your poor animal had to wait )

if you bring your dog to cork next year we`ll groom for 30.00

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Thanks shootingstar - would take you up on that if I lived closer to Cork! Never mind the poor animal having to wait 2 weeks - we had to put up with her moulting and smell for the 2 weeks - she didn't care!!

Seriously though, I have to kennel my 3 dogs for a weekend later this month and would love to find a kennel like your daughter is planning, where they would be groomed as well as being well looked after. As other posters have said most kennels around here are just cages and cold sheds charging €15 per night. I would happily pay more for what she's planning to offer and know that my dogs are being well cared for.